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Instant Pot Thit Kho

This is a slightly modified version of my aunt's, Chef Teresa's, recipe. It leverages the Instant Pot, which cuts the braising time down to about 40 minutes from the 2-3 hours it would take on the stovetop.
Print Recipe
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Marination 1 hour
Servings: 8
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 dozen eggs
  • 2-2.5 lbs pork shoulder for carnitas Whole Foods has this cut, which allows me to skip the step of trimming and cutting up the pork. If not available, get 2.5 lbs of pork shoulder or pork butt, trim away large chunks of fat, and cut into 2 inch cubes.
  • 2 shallots (minced)
  • 1/2 medium yellow onion (minced)
  • fish sauce
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1/4 tsp store bought caramel sauce or 2 tbsp homemade caramel sauce
  • 1.5 cans Coco Rico coconut soda

Equipment

  • Instant Pot

Method
 

  1. Parboil pork: boil for 30 seconds - 1 minute in salted water. Then rinse thoroughly with cool water.
  2. In a mixing bowl, add 4 tbsp fish sauce, 1/2 tsp ground pepper, coconut caramel sauce. Mix well, toss the pork, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
  3. Cook eggs in a steam basket for 12 minutes then submerge in ice water. Peel and set aside. See recipe notes for tips on cooking/peeling eggs as well as Instant Pot method.
  4. Turn on instant pot to Saute mode. Saute shallots and onion until golden brown. Add pork (set leftover marinade aside) and saute for another 2 minutes until thoroughly combined. Then add leftover marinade.
  5. Add eggs, Coco Rico soda, 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp fish sauce. Contents should be at least 2/3 submerged. If not, some water can be added (I usually add half a cup of water because I tend to end up with more meat).
  6. Select Manual/Pressure Cook for 15 minutes. When done, do Quick Release. Switch to Saute mode and cook off for another 10 minutes or more to reduce liquid.

Notes

Tips for hard-boiling eggs.
Adjustments from Chef Teresa's original recipe:
  1. Eggs cooked directly in the Instant Pot: place eggs in a trivet/steamer basket. Add about 2 cups water. Select Manual/Pressure cook for 4 minutes. Quick Release, remove, and drop into ice bath. I did not go this route because I prefer to use the egg cooking time to prep my other ingredients. Also, I'm not convinced this actually saves a lot of time given the Instant Pot warm up time.
  2. No parboiling. When I initially skipped this step, I found the dish to be gritty. It didn't affect the taste but it looked a lot less appealing. When I asked my aunt about it, she says that she sometimes rubs the pork with salt and then rinses with cool water. 
  3. Whole onion (vs. 1/2 cup). Adjusted for personal taste. 
  4. 1/2 cup of fish sauce (vs. 1/3 + 1 tbsp) in step 5. Personally, 1/2 cup resulted in a way too salty dish. When I tried 1/3 cup, I thought it was perfect but my cousin and husband thought it should be saltier.